Arduino Remote Control ver. 1.0 – Android app to manage your projects

Arduino is fun and can be used in many useful applications. What we offer today is a Android app to remotely control your board, whether you are connected to a local network or via internet.

You cansetthe icons, type the texts, select the amount of buttons and choose the command you want to send.You switch to another Arduino project? Reuse the same app just reconfiguring it!

There are a few steps needed to start controlling your project:

Enter the ip of the Arduino board you want to control and press SAVE

2. This will open thebutton configurationwindow.

You can set each button or select a default. In the first case there are a few options to choose from . For each button there are four possible options.
– Check the box to display the button
– Choosethe favorite icon from the listof thoseavailable– Type the text that will accompany the button
– Select the command that the button will send to Arduino board

If you choose the auto-configuration just click on 1 of 3 presets (more to come) and the buttons will be displayed on the desktop.

At the end of both menu you can find the “font size” selector (adjust it at your needs) and the possibility to change the colour background.

When you have made your choices click on SAVE and the desktop will finallyappear with buttons you have selected.

Orders from theapp – explanation

As you can see the list of available commands is very elementary because the actual configuration on theArduinobehavior ischoosen withinthe sketch (you can find an example of a sketch at the end of this article). So when you select a command on the app you need to edit the sketch so that it performs what you expect.

The example that we propose is a system for controlling the bars ofa parking lot (first preset of auto-configuration). We will then have a button to raise the bar, a button to lower it and a button to operate the automatic parking mode (imagine a magnetic loop reader).
In a previous article you can find the guide to make the circuit that will command bars.
Opening the sketch with the Arduino IDE can find the piece of program that manages orders from the app.

As explained when Arduino receives a command it gets interpreted and controls the dedicated relay. In this case the relay 1 is switched to close the contact, it waits 1 second (expressed in milliseconds) and opens the contact.The program section to close the bar is similar.
The third command is different . Each time Arduino receives the command / button3 toggles the relay from open to closed and vice versa.
The example provides that on the NO contact of the relay 3 is connected to a loop-detector to raise the bar every time a vehicle approaches.

Do you think the app needs to change? Do you have particular needs? All comments are welcome.

To-do list

Support for two or more Arduino board simultaneously

Adding indicators for sensors mountedon theArduino board

Ability to choose different graphic themes

Ability to insert a different logo in case you want to use the app in an enterprise environment